Recently, Prime Minister paid homage to Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar on 114th Thevar Jayanthi (Guru Pooja).
Context
Recently, Prime Minister paid homage to Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar on 114th Thevar Jayanthi (Guru Pooja).
- It is celebrated on 30th October every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of Pasumpon Muthuramalingam Thevar.
About Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar
- He was born on the 30th of October 1908 in Pasumpon in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu.
- He was a spiritual freedom-fighter cum spiritual leader.
- He is seen as a deity among the Mukulathor community, a cluster community comprising the Kallar, Maravar and Ahambadiar.
- The people of the Mukulathor community still make offerings as is done for the deities in temples to the statue on his Jeyanthi and Guru Pooja celebrations.
- He did not accept traditional Hinduism because it supported the ‘Varnashrama’. He regularly fought against the evils of the Hindu religion.
- He openly rejected religious superstition and narrow-mindedness.
- Being a social worker and a colleague of Subhash Chandra Bose, he served as deputy chairman of the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) since 1952.
- He has been elected three times to the AIFB national parliament constituency.
- The Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act was passed by the government of C. Rajagopalachari in 1939.
- It removes restrictions that prevent Dalits from entering Hindu temples.
- He supported the change and in July 1939 assisted activist A. Vaidyanatha Iyer took Dalits to the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai.
- The Criminal Tribes Act (CTA), enacted by the British in 1920, was against the Mukulathor community, in which Thevar protested by mobilizing people and starting protests that was a major milestone in his career.
- CTA criminalized entire communities by designating them as habitual criminals.
- He was instrumental in getting the act repealed after continuous efforts in 1946.
- He died on October 30, 1963, from an illness.
All India Forward Bloc
- Built in May 1939 by Subhash Chandra Bose. It was a left-wing political party in India that emerged as a party within the 1939 India Congress.
- The First All India Conference of Forward bloc was held in Nagpur in June 1940. It also passed a resolution entitled 'All Power to the Indian People', calling for steps to be taken against the British colonial rule.
- The prime objective of the Forward Bloc was to bring all radical elements of the Congress party together. So that it could spread the meaning of complete independence of India with adherence to the application of principles of equality and social justice.
- It was declared banned on 23 June 1942. Even when it was declared illegal, it played a revolutionary role to crown the struggle of the people with success and glory.
- The party has also re-established itself as an independent political party after the independence of India.
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